Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob

In USA, Rabbi Jacob (Marcel Dalio) and Rabbi Zeiligman are traveling back to Paris after a long absence far from his hometown. Meanwhile the bigoted French Victor Pivert (Louis de Funès), who is the owner of a factory, is traveling by car with his Jewish driver Salomon (Henri Guybet) to France to the marriage of his daughter Antoinette Pivert (Miou-Miou). They have a car accident and Pivert fires Salomon and walks on the road looking for help. He stumbles with the Muslin rebel leader Mohamed Larbi Slimane (Claude Giraud) and unintentionally saves the Slimane from assassins that want to kill him.

Slimane abducts him and they head to the Paris airport, chased by the killers and the police. They meet with Rabbis Jacob and Zeiligman that have just arrived in France in the toilet and they impersonate them to escape from the pursuers. When they meet the Jewish community that is welcoming Rabbi Jacob in the airport, they have to proceed in the farce getting in more confusion.

"Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob" is one of the funniest comedies of cinema history, with a complex screenplay entwining the lives of several characters without coincidences but hilarious situations. The story makes fun of polemic themes, like religion and prejudice, and with government economical interests, but is never disrespectful.

Louis de Funès is fantastic with a top-notch performance, considered by fans of the French king of the comedy as his best ever. Unfortunately the studios do not make movies like this anymore. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil); "As Loucas Aventuras de Rabbi Jacob" ("The Crazy Adventures of Rabbi Jacob")

A really funny movie, in my opinion the best of Louis de Funès' movies. For everyone who hasn't seen him yet: You're really missing out on a treat. But watch it in french (with subtitles if necessary) because it is so much better in the original!!!!!

Louis de Funès was the comedian of the french television and is still extremely popular there as in many other countries like Belgium or Germany (in Germany at least a bit) I can recommend every movie he has made, but this one is still my favourite!!

This is one of the best comedies in the French cinema. Louis de Funes plays the role of Victor Pivert, an industrialist with a Napoleonic complex and a tendency for racist viewpoints, who inadvertantly teams up with, Mohamed Larbi Slimane, an exiled Arab political oposition candidate who is on the run from hired assassins in Paris. Pivert and Slimane masquerade as two Jewish rabbis in order to save their lives. What follows are hillarious scenes taking place in the Jewish section of Paris as well as in the surrounding areas. Watch out for the incredible mime scenes by Louis de Funes at the gas station and in the Orly airport.

Give Louis de Funes a good role and the freedom to go nuts, and you will have a good movie. In Rabbi Jacob, Funes is the owner of an industrial plant who "knows that the people like to be lied to" ("mais il AIME qu'on lui mente, le peuple!"). His character is intolerant of Arabs, Jews, Blacks, etc. At one point during the story, however, he must take on the identity of a Rabbi and try to pass himself off as Jewish in order to save his hide. With him is an Arab, who must do the same. If you've seen de Funes before, I'm sure you can imagine the hilarious scenes that arise out of this predicament.

My grandfather, as well as my father were both of them fans of french cinema. I grew up watching this film in our Beta video (oh yes, way before VHS existed and DVD wasn't even thought of) and now, 20 years later I see it again in an anniversary edition. I can say I remember almost every gag from the film... every scene. I just watched it on DVD with my father again and was a blast from the past for both of us, he had seen it with my granddad 35 years ago in the cinema and with me and my brothers several times on video. I am saving this film to watch with my kids too in the future, they'll grow up with it too.

Such a great time...and so many memories